PASADENA, Md. (WJZ)– A serious accident on the water in Anne Arundel County leaves nine people, including children, injured after two boats smashed into each other. And neighbors got all of those people to safety.

State Del. Don Dwyer (R) was aboard one of the boats. He is in Shock Trauma in stable condition.

Kai Jackson has the eyewitness accounts.

The Anne Arundel County Fire Department tells WJZ that neighbors and other motorists who saw the accident are the heroes.

Tragedy on the Magothy River on Wednesday around 7 p.m. Sky Eye Chopper 13 was at the scene. The fire department said two boats collided on the popular waterway. One boat sank and numerous people were hurt.

“We had a total of nine patients. Seven of them were transported to area facilities, two people refused,” Lt. Keith Hamilton of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department said. “The patients range in age from five to 54.”

It’s unclear who was on which boat but of the nine people injured, four were children aged 10, 12, seven and five. All of them were taken to the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore.

The fire department says the 5-year-old girl is in serious condition.

Three adults were also hurt and taken to the hospital. A witness says one of the children was tubing from one of the boats involved.

“You couldn’t hear the collision, you just saw things just spray up in the air,” witness Alan Woytowitz said. “The faster boat just veered to the right and went to the shallow end and beached and it seemed like it was taking on water there.”

Sky Eye Chopper 13 did not catch the other boat which apparently came back to shore with its own power.

Of the two people who refused treatment, one was an adult and one was a child. Of the three injured adults, two were taken to Shock Trauma and one was taken to the Baltimore Washington Medical Center.

The authorities have not released the names of the victims or the nature of their injuries, other than for the 5-year-old girl.

The Anne Arundel County Fire Department, The Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Coast Guard are investigating the incident.